Obituary

23 May 2013

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Fr Bernie Casey was born in Lisnagan, Newtowncashel, Co Longford. He was a son of Joseph Casey (a farmer) and Mary E Shaughnessy (national teacher). He completed his secondary education at St Mel’s College, Longford in 1948 and entered the Novitiate of the Redemptorist order in St Joseph’s Dundalk, in Autumn 1948. He was ordained at Cluain Mhuire Galway on 21 Aug 1955 and left for the mission fields in the Philippine Islands in winter 1956, arriving in late January. Through the next 56 years he maintained his initial missionary idealism and zeal and never wavered in his priestly understanding of Christ’s message. He was a simple man who dedicated his life to his work. This suited his Philippino flock who seem to have been exactly like the unsophisticated Irish people of the 1940s and 1950s whom he left behind. Loyal and honest to self and others, he hadn’t the slightest interest in money,power or control. He was a pure fundamentalist who concentrated on basics and was tolerant of other views. He grew to love and see his flock as like his own sincere people – so much so that he chose to spend the last moments of his missionary life among them. When he was last back in Ireland in 2011 he made arrangements for his final days and interment in Iloilio. He died on April first 2013 and is interred in Iloilo city among his adopted family of ordinary Philippinos whom he loved. His sisters Bridgie and Mary predeceased him. He is survived by Frank, Newtowncashel, Tom (twin brother) Wexford, Clare, Dublin and Joe Wexford. His mother’s people living under Slieve Ban in Roscommon also mourn him along with his Cashel and Rathcline relatives and friends.

Fr Bernie Casey was born in Lisnagan, Newtowncashel, Co Longford. He was a son of Joseph Casey (a farmer) and Mary E Shaughnessy (national teacher). He completed his secondary education at St Mel’s College, Longford in 1948 and entered the Novitiate of the Redemptorist order in St Joseph’s Dundalk, in Autumn 1948. He was ordained at Cluain Mhuire Galway on 21 Aug 1955 and left for the mission fields in the Philippine Islands in winter 1956, arriving in late January. Through the next 56 years he maintained his initial missionary idealism and zeal and never wavered in his priestly understanding of Christ’s message. He was a simple man who dedicated his life to his work. This suited his Philippino flock who seem to have been exactly like the unsophisticated Irish people of the 1940s and 1950s whom he left behind. Loyal and honest to self and others, he hadn’t the slightest interest in money,power or control. He was a pure fundamentalist who concentrated on basics and was tolerant of other views. He grew to love and see his flock as like his own sincere people – so much so that he chose to spend the last moments of his missionary life among them. When he was last back in Ireland in 2011 he made arrangements for his final days and interment in Iloilio. He died on April first 2013 and is interred in Iloilo city among his adopted family of ordinary Philippinos whom he loved. His sisters Bridgie and Mary predeceased him. He is survived by Frank, Newtowncashel, Tom (twin brother) Wexford, Clare, Dublin and Joe Wexford. His mother’s people living under Slieve Ban in Roscommon also mourn him along with his Cashel and Rathcline relatives and friends.

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